E! Cancels "The Soup"
by Liz Raftery
Nov 18, 2015


"The Soup" will end its 24-year run on E! next month, the network announced Wednesday.

Joel McHale, who took over hosting duties in 2004, will helm the clip show's final episode, which is scheduled to air on Dec. 18 at 10/9c. In the weeks leading up to the finale, McHale will revisit some of the series' most memorable moments.



"We are incredibly proud of the long-running success of The Soup," Jeff Olde, E!'s executive vice president of programming and development, said in a statement.

"The show has delivered countless laughs and unforgettable episodes, and we are grateful to the talented team's fearless wit and clever approach week after week. Joel took the show to new heights for more than a decade, and his irreverent humor and unique brand of comedy as captured so perfectly on The Soup will be missed."







The cancellation comes after years of McHale branching out into other ventures, including his starring role on "Community", as well as hosting the ESPYs and the White House Correspondents Dinner. He's also scheduled to appear on Fox's revival of "The X-Files" this winter.

Last year, "The Soup" received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program.



"Talk Soup" premiered in 1991, hosted by Greg Kinnear.

Subsequent hosts included John Henson, Hal Sparks and Aisha Tyler.

http://www.tvguide.com/news/soup-canceled-e-joel-mchale-final-episode/

without the Soup, E! is just one big 24-hour long commercial for the completely useless phenomenon that is the Kardasian family

without the Soup, E! is just one big 24-hour long commercial for the completely useless phenomenon that is the Kardasian family

In a way, it was probably inevitable. You can easily make the argument that Joel McHale has been in autopilot/coasting mode for a while (i.e. when he started working on Community, which essentially made Joel "bigger than The Soup"). It also isn't necessarily entirely on Joel though as the writers seemed to put more effort into the unfunny guest of the week's tiresome interruption then they did the television clips. The writing was really on the wall (in regards to bad guests and lazy writing/off joke timing) when they did that NASCAR episode from several weeks back.

The show has run its course. But now E! will just be one endless marathon of Ryan Secrest produced reality shows. They should just rename it the "K" network and make Kim Kardashian chief of programming.

The show has run its course. But now E! will just be one endless marathon of Ryan Secrest produced reality shows. They should just rename it the "K" network and make Kim Kardashian chief of programming.

Since the show (http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?855) is ending pretty soon:
*When Joel McHale started working on Community and therefore, The Soup was no longer is "top priority".

*Tosh.0 came along and provided arguably, a funnier, more cutting-edge approach to the basic cable, "host stands behind a green screen" and makes fun of clips" show.

*The show started getting so popular that it became routine for one of Joel's celebrity "friends" to walk on and help him do commentary.

*Spin-offs like Web Soup, The Dish, and Sports Soup further watering things down.

*When E! moved the show from Fridays to Wednesdays.

I still think the show is more entertaining than Tosh.0 (which is pretty repetitive and just not as shocking anymore; it rarely hits the mark on the weekly redemptions anymore, its like they aren't even trying)

all those spin-offs are done and gone, and even Community has been gone for awhile - which I still have no idea how people come to the conclusion than Joel McHale being on another show somehow had any affect on The Soup, let alone a negative one. If anything it just meant that more and better guests appeared regularly which was definitely better for the show.

I am going to complain to my cable provider and demand that E! be removed from the basic cable package, I don't want to pay for it and I believe that it is detrimental to society in general with the horrible message it sends in every single one of its mindless, vapid shows.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/the-soup-a-once-vital-way-of-keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-outgrew-its-purpose/2015/12/17/0a88c9c6-a410-11e5-9c4e-be37f66848bb_story.html

“Maybe it wasn’t tone or even customarily low ratings that did the show in,” Hank Stuever says of the Joel McHale-hosted clip show. "It might have been the unthinkable: It has become impossible for The Soup to keep up. No longer can a reality-show outrage or talk-show gaffe wait a week for its proper drubbing. In the highly competitive market of online clicks, such moments can barely wait a half-hour before they turn into old news and tired jokes. Each of us carries around in our pockets a machine that can clip videos and create GIFs, allowing users to provide their own snarky asides and disseminate them to our followers.” PLUS: The Soup: An appreciation (https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/12/16/why-ill-miss-the-soup-joel-mchales-snarky-delightfully-stupid-clip-show/), from Aisha Tyler to Hal Sparks: Talk Soup alums (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/18/talk-soup-e-hal-sparks-john-henson-aisha-tyler) discuss the show’s legacy, watch a farewell montage (http://www.tvinsider.com/article/61317/the-soup-bids-farewell-series-finale-video/?), and where are The Soup alums now (http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-soup-final-episode-e-joel-mchale-hosts-1201664525/http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-soup-final-episode-e-joel-mchale-hosts-1201664525/)?

Since the show (http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?855) is ending pretty soon:
*When Joel McHale started working on Community and therefore, The Soup was no longer his "top priority".

*Tosh.0 came along and provided arguably, a funnier, more cutting-edge approach to the basic cable, "host stands behind a green screen" and makes fun of clips" show.

*The show started getting so popular that it became routine for one of Joel's celebrity "friends" to walk on and help him do commentary.

*Spin-offs like Web Soup, The Dish, and Sports Soup further watering things down.

*When E! moved the show from Fridays to Wednesdays.

I'll add another one for consideration, when shortly after Heath Ledger died of a drug overdose, Joel McHale at the end of the show turned serious and delivered a rather condescending and pretentious diatribe about the "intrusive", exploitative tabloid media (even though it was technically, Ledger's fault that he died). It seemed like because Joel once starred in a movie w/ Ledger (Lords of Dogtown) he took things way too reactive and personally. It almost falls into the classic, "you can dish it out but you can't take it" category.

http://vleeptronz.blogspot.com/2008/01/joel-mchale-says-few-words-about-heath.html

dMs0vJP_96k

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-453771.html

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/01/heath-ledger-rip.html

http://ladyj3000.blogspot.com/2008/01/joel-mchale-is-stand-up-kind-of-guy.html

I'll add another one for consideration, when shortly after Heath Ledger died of a drug overdose, Joel McHale at the end of the show turned serious and delivered a rather condescending and pretentious diatribe about the "intrusive", exploitative tabloid media (even though it was technically, Ledger's fault that he died). It seemed like because Joel once starred in a movie w/ Ledger (Lords of Dogtown) he took things way too reactive and personally. It almost falls into the classic, "you can dish it out but you can't take it" category.

http://vleeptronz.blogspot.com/2008/01/joel-mchale-says-few-words-about-heath.html

dMs0vJP_96k

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-453771.html

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/01/heath-ledger-rip.html

http://ladyj3000.blogspot.com/2008/01/joel-mchale-is-stand-up-kind-of-guy.html

Heath died of accidental overdose/mixing drugs. Unfortunate, but it happens to many. He was relying on drugs to sleep and who knows what else he was addicted to at that time.

Heath should have gotten a doctor's help instead of taking matters into his own hands like that. He also took the Joker role too seriously, which screwed him over. Had gone to rehab, gotten a sober counselor much earlier, he would have still been alive today.

The show has run its course. But now E! will just be one endless marathon of Ryan Secrest produced reality shows. They should just rename it the "K" network and make Kim Kardashian chief of programming.

Joel McHale explains why E! ended The Soup and how Paul Feig championed a new version for Netflix (http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/joel-mchale-on-reality-tv-trump-and-the-joel-mchale-show.html)
The departure of Chelsea Handler and Joan Rivers' death made E! a lonely place for comedy, especially since it didn't want to pay comedy writers for reruns. McHale says E! "stopped repeating the show because it was costing money. We went from like 18 reruns to zero." It was Paul Feig who championed the idea of reviving The Soup at Netflix (http://putlocker.io/watch/ox11ERxN-the-joel-mchale-show-with-joel-mchale-season-1.html) under a slightly different format and a new name. ALSO: Behind the scenes of a Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale taping. (https://decider.com/2018/03/05/the-joel-mchale-show-with-joel-mchale-netflix-behind-the-scenes/)

On a side note, apropos of nothing, Joel McHale never seems to age... :confused: :confused: :confused: